even if you had catastrophic failure of the control system, it should be possible to put everything in manual. Manually start generators, manually start pumps via the H-O-A, but agree that normal operation should be auto-changeover. I do control HVAC control work, so not this exact stuff, but pretty similar. No way they should be running on batteries for anything other than bridging the gap to the generators. Hopefully the investigation will get to the bottom of it, but power outages are routine, I'm sure happening multiple times a year. This should all be routinely tested and vetted. Total disaster.